Sunday 9th April - Wednesday 19th April 2017
The Upper Texas Coast has long been
hallowed ground for observing spring migration and is arguably one of the best
birding locations in the United States. The coastal woods, marshes, lagoons and
beaches provide essential refuge for trans-gulf migrants, many of which leave
the tropical forests of Central America to make landfall on the Upper Texas
coast. Most of the focus will be on songbirds with sought-after gems like
Golden-winged and Cerulean Warblers, and Painted Bunting high on the ‘wish
list’ for many. In addition, the rice fields and wetlands play host to scarce
shorebirds such as Buff-breasted and Baird’s Sandpipers, and Hudsonian Godwit
among many others. Moreover, the marshes support an impressive selection of
rails with all six of North America’s regularly occurring species possible on
this tour - including the near-mythical Black Rail. North of the coast, deep
inside the ‘Piney Woods’ rare breeders include Swallow-tailed Kite,
Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Swainson’s Warbler and Bachman’s Sparrow. We aim to
begin the tour in spectacular fashion near Rockport where we search for
Whooping Cranes, one of the rarest cranes species in the World.
Our guide for this exciting tour will be Massachusetts based British birder James Smith. Many of you will know James from his tours to Israel and his numerous USA tours around California, Arizona and other places. He is one of the best bird guides around at the moment and we are very pleased he has joined the Zoothera Birding team.
The coastal flats, marshes and lagoons of the Upper Texas Coast hold thousands of shorebirds, herons, egrets, gulls and terns. The star bird during the first half of April is the Endangered Whooping Crane. With a population possibly as low as 249 mature individuals this is one of the rarest birds in the world and we have an excellent chance of catching site of one or two from our boat ride into Aransas Bay.
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| Whooping Crane - not the best photo but.... |
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| Black Skimmer is relatively common |
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| American Bittern - Anahuac |
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| The boardwalk on Mustang Island |
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| King Rail |
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| Le Conte's Sparrow is a tough bird to find in the coastal marshes |
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| Least Tern |
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| Lesser Yellowlegs |
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| Marbled Godwit |
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| Piping Plover |
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| Roseate Spoonbill |
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| Royal Terns |
And there's a whole kaleidoscope of stunning passerines to be found in the coastal woodlots around High Island and, in fact, any small bit of cover along the coast....
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| Blackburnian Warbler |
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| Blue Grosbeak |
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| Blue-headed Vireo |
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| Dickcissel |
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| Grey-cheeked Thrush |
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| Hooded Warbler |
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| Kentucky Warbler |
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| Prothonotary Warbler |
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| Red-cockaded Woodpecker |
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| Rose-breasted Grosbeak |
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| Scissor-tailed Flycatcher |
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| Veery |
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| Swainson's Warbler |
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